Enviva: Angel Of The Dawn - Part II

Enviva and her cousin awoke with aching bumps upon their skulls and, looking around them, they saw that they had been locked in a glass box and they both screamed but,to their horror, they could not hear their own screams,they had no voices.

Suddenly, they heard Crimalin's voice and saw, through a wall of their glass prison, Crimalin grinning horribly. “I warned you, Enviva but a warning is like a bait to heroes and fools. Fools stick their heads upon the chopping block because what use has a fool for a head,they won’t miss it and neither will the world but your voice was too precious to gamble away in a heroic act, if you had been a coward you might have sung forever, now I will have to silence you forever. The thing which cages you and your cousin is called a prison of silence”, he explained,gloating, “Within it you are silent, Enviva, and your voice has no power”.

Enviva banged at the glass wall and tried to shatter it but the glass was too thick for her tiny fists to shatter. Thinking that she was defeated Enviva sat down in a corner of her glass prison and wept.

“You may wonder how a person such as myself can possess a magical object like the prison of silence.", the minister said, "It is because I do not serve the king of Rhythmia. I serve a much more powerful and ancient force”.

Upon saying this, Crimalin lit a torch and Enviva could see that behind him was an altar upon which a demon idol was seated. Enviva shuddered as she gazed at the horrible obsidian gargoyle,with its great golden fangs,ruby eyes and outspreading bat-like wings.

Crimalin then summoned a man servant to come and Enviva saw enter what appeared to be a giant, a creature twice the size of the tallest man but with a hunched back that made the creature stoop low and, in the creatures left hand, it carried a giant blacksmiths hammer.

“Borgat”, Crimalin shouted at his manservant, “Guard these prisoners and make sure that they do not escape. Unfortunately, I have matters of state which require my urgent attention but, when I return, my prisoners will see their fates. I intend to offer their young souls to my master,the demon who is the drinker of souls”.

Mimenta's tears fell silently upon the floor of the glass prison and, though she made no sound, the sight disturbed Enviva so much that she knew she must escape,if only for her poor cousins sake, “She does not have the God given courage of my immortal heart”, thought Enviva, “I could not bear her suffering upon my conscience”.

Enviva stared back at the giant who was guarding them and, as she did so, he growled at her.

“Who do you think you are staring at?”, he asked, “You know that I can crush you with one fist,
little girl?”, and, to prove it, the giant picked up a stone that was lying on the floor and, squeezing it tightly, reduced it to dust that poured out through his fingers.

“Strong and ill tempered”,thought Enviva, and suddenly her brain was filled with an excellent
plan of escape and,setting her plan in motion, Enviva stuck out her tongue.

At first Mimenta thought that her young cousin had gone mad,perhaps mad with despair,especially when Enviva started to cross her eyes and pull wierd, ugly faces whilst sticking her thumbs in her ears and waggling her fingers.

However, Envivas logic soon became clear to her cousin once she saw the Giants reaction. “Ohh, Enviva”, thought her cousin, “by sticking out your tongue, like a candle sticks out its tongue, you have brought back the light to save us from this seemingly inextinguishable darkness”.

The Giant,Borgat, was a person who liked to be feared and not taunted. He had been teased mercilessly as a child because of his unusual size and now Enviva's insulting gestures brought those memories back to him. Enraged by Enviva's silent taunts, the Giant smacked his fist into the glass wall of their prison but it was not made of ordinary glass and only hurt the Giants fist which increased its anger even further. Now Mimenta joined Enviva in her taunting of the Giant, all the while pretending that they were safely protected from him within their glass prison and able to mock him without fear.

The Giant smacked the glass prison walls again, even harder this time, but to no avail and then he tried ramming his head against them but this did not work either. There was no obvious lid to the prison,no keyhole and no key.How could he get in to teach those ignorant girls a lesson? Then the Giant remembered his giant blacksmiths hammer and his eyes gleamed because he thought that he had just had a very brilliant idea.

Grabbing his great hammer, the Giant swung it hard against the glass prison and,as he did so,the prison wall shattered into a thousand pieces while Enviva and her cousin knelt and covered their heads to avoid being hit by flying shards.

Now that the Giant had broken into the glass prison he raised his hammer over them and was going to smash it down upon their heads but,just as he was preparing to do this,he heard a strange soft lullaby that was overpowering to his senses.

Enviva was singing again and,now that her voice was back, she felt her power and confidence returning.

Lulled into an instant slumber by Enviva’s singing,the giant dropped his hammer on the ground and, falling flat-out on the floor, began snoring loudly. “Goodness”,said Mimenta, “That giants snoring is almost as powerful as your singing,Enviva,though not half as pleasant”.

Tip-toeing over the giant who was curled up like a baby on the cellar floor, Enviva and Mimenta walked up,out of the cellar and found themselves in the hallway of Crimalin's mansion.

They both felt sure that they were completely free, but suddenly they heard a loud growling noise up ahead and it was not the giants snoring.

In the great hallway of Crimalins mansion,
blocking the front door and thus their escape route,was a large gray wolf upon a long iron chain and,as soon as it smelled their scent,it began snarling. “Oh no”, said Mimenta, “What will we do now?”.

Enviva hadn’t a clue at first but then she noticed something about the wolf’s eyes.
They were cloudy with cataracts.

“Do you see its eyes?”,whispered Enviva, “It is completely blind. It cannot see us. Perhaps, if it thought that we were its master, it might relax and let us pass”.

Enviva looked round about the hallway. Next to them, on one side, was a half moon table upon which a half smoked cigar still glowed in a marble ashtray and, on the other side of them, was a closet which was unlocked. Enviva looked inside the closet and saw that,among other odd items, there were some of Crimalin's old clothes and shoes.

“Quickly”, said Enviva, “You must put on those shoes. They will make your footsteps sound more like Crimalins and put on some of his old clothes, they still have the smell of Crimalin on them and you must carry me in your arms so that the wolf hears only two footsteps and I will carry that lit cigar so that it will help disguise our own scent.”

Mimenta coughed,choking on the cigar smoke, “What an evil smell?”,she said.

“If it helps us to escape this terrible place then it is as good as a key of solid gold to me”, answered Enviva.

Now,with scent and footsteps disguised, the two girls walked cautiously toward the front door and Enviva,because of her miraculous vocal powers,was even able to lower her voice so that she sounded just like Crimalin and she told the blind wolf to “be good and sit up” and, amazingly, it did so and Enviva and Mimenta were able to exit Crimalins mansion safely.

Once they were out in the open air, Mimenta asked, “Where should we go now and what should we do?”, because she had grown to trust her gifted young cousin's leadership.

“We must go back to the king and tell him all that we’ve seen in Crimalin's basement”, answered Enviva.

But it was a long way from Crimalin's mansion to the kings palace for two young girls on foot and,being strangers to that part of Rhythmia, they were not sure which direction they should take.

Luckily, however, after walking many yards they came to a highway and on the highway they saw a gypsy caravan and it belonged to some of the Gypsies whom Enviva had met and made friends with in Heavenna.

There were four Gypsies, a mother,a father and two sons and upon seeing Enviva and her cousin Mimenta, they immediately recognized them. “Yes”, said the mother, “I remember you. You are the little girl with the great voice”.

“That’s right”, said Enviva, “And we must get to the Kings palace in Heavenna urgently”.

“Oh?”, asked the Gypsy mother, “but would they allow poor gypsies and two little girls through the Palace gates?”.

“I possess great powers of influence”, answered Enviva, “You will see”.

“I believe it”, said the Gypsy mother, “You know that we Gypsies have powers too. That we are not originaly of this world”.

“No?”, asked Enviva, “Where did you come from?”.

“We rolled our wagons over the stars centuries ago from another great orb in the night sky. At that time we were rich in magic but our power is not as great as it was, so far from our homeworld”, said the Gypsy mother, “However, I do have something of power that I could give to you – a charm”.

And the Gypsy mother took off one of many jeweled necklaces that surrounded her own neck and gave it to Enviva. “This necklace bears an ancient stone from our original home,stars and stars far from here. It was given to me by my own mother
but I do not have any daughters to hand it to and I have an intuition that you,little Girl,may have need of it. Far ahead of you I see troubles”.

“Really? You can see the future too?”, asked a startled Enviva.

“As well as all Gypsies can”, said the Mother, “Although I often forget the past in my old age, I have sharp eyes when it comes to remembering the future”.

And the Gypsy caravan traveled for several hours, carrying Enviva and her cousin across the outskirts of Heavenna until they passed through the city gates and drew up outside the high walled palace of the king.

However, when Enviva tried to enter the Palace gates, the two guards who were posted at either side would not let in either her or the Gypsy caravan. “Not without an invitation from the king”,they said.

So Enviva turned to her cousin Mimenta,“Mimenta”, she said, “I will need you to distract the guards”.

“Distract the guards?”,asked Mimenta panicking, “How will I do that?”.

“Mimenta, you are an 18 year old girl”, replied Enviva, “That alone is enough distraction to most soldiers”.

“But”, asked Mimenta, “What will I say? What will I do?”.

“Can you dance?”,asked Enviva.

“A little bit. The dances of our local village and that is all”, replied her cousin.
“That will be enough”, said Enviva, “ I will sing a love song that, with you as the special ingredient, will be an irresistible love potion”.

And so, Enviva sang and though Mimenta was nervous and shy,she did her best, thinking of God and king and country, to smile and dance for the guards.

The song that Enviva sang was called, “The soldier and the Gypsy”

There was a gypsy maiden;
her name was Annie Bell.
She met a handsome soldier
and deep in love they fell.

But then he got his orders;
that he must go to war;
“My lovely soldier boy”, said she,
“Shall I see you no more?”

“Oh, please don’t fear; Annie, my dear”,
the young soldier replied,
“For I’ll be coming back, I swear
and then you’ll be my bride”.

“My soldier dear. I would not fear
that you could come to harm”,
said Annie Bell, “If you would swear
to wear my Gypsy charm”.

“I will”, said the young soldier,
“wear it close to my heart”,
then tightly he did hold her;
then sadly, they did part.

Then off to war, her lover went;
over sea, he did go,
with his red coated regiment
to bravely fight the foe.

And though the fighting, it was fierce
and the foes forces large,
he bravely drew his sabre and
into the battle, charged.

But nothing could it touch him;
not sabre, shot or shell
because of the charm given him
by his sweet Annie Bell.

All through the war she’d waited;
and waited faithfuly,
dreaming of when, back home again,
her soldier boy would be.

Then one bright summer morning,
she heard the pipes and drums,
and marching homeward, two by two,
she saw the soldiers come.

And bravest of the men she saw,
the handsomest and best,
was her beloved soldier boy;
brass medals on his chest.

She threw her arms around him;
her heart dancing inside,
“And now”, he said, “Let us be wed
so you may be my bride”.

and with the magic of Enviva's voice it was not long before the song had cast a dancing spell over their hearts, infact, the magic worked so well that,even after Enviva had stopped singing, her song continued within the soldiers heads and, while the guards were enchanted with the dancing Mimenta, Enviva crept past them and,running across the courtyard, entered the Palace of king Ancross.

When King Ancross saw her he was startled, “What in goodness name are you doing here?”, he asked.

Enviva curtsied and spoke, “I have come to inform your majesty of a great act of treason being committed by one of your ministers”, said Enviva.

“You’re not still harping on about Crimalin are you? I have told you before not to interfere in such matters”, said the king wearilly.

“But I have a new and even more damning charge against Crimalin. That of black magic and demon worship; things which, I believe, are against the kings law”.

The king took a sombre tone, “That is a very serious accusation to make,little girl”, said the king, “A person could be sent to jail for wrongfully slandering a royal minister”.

“But I have solid stone proof to support my accusation”, said Enviva. “Search in the cellar of Crimalin's house and you will find an altar there to a demon. I know because I and my poor cousin have been held prisoner there by that minister of devils”.

And so, the king ordered that Molygar, the kings chief of security, should be sent to investigate the cellar of Crimalin's house concerning a charge of high treason and that he should be accompanied by seven armed soldiers to deal with the giant and the wolf.

After forcing their way into Crimalin's mansion, they soon found the demon headed altar that was hidden in the cellar and, after a brief but tempestuous scuffle with Crimalins giant manservant in which two of the seven guards were knocked senseless and one bitten by a blind wolf, the wicked Crimalin was placed under arrest and was transported,handcuffed, to the royal dungeons and, soon after that, locked into one of the many small cells of Traitors Tower, where all those who had been found guilty of betraying the king were held prisoner. The demon altar was then broken up into rubble so that its dreadful power be broken for all time.

“Oh Enviva”, exclaimed the king, upon hearing the news of Crimalins arrest and incarceration, “I had been deaf until I heard you sing and now I am dumb struck with shame. You must forgive me and I must reward you”.

“I am content with the knowledge that a terrible wrong has been righted, your majesty. You need not give me any rewards”, said Enviva, “ and I know that I shall be rewarded in heaven for all the good that is made from my life”.

“Oh,well no reward I could bestow upon you could possibly match those that heaven gives out but, if you desire to do good deeds, then I shall appoint you my ‘Minister for conscience’ so that my kingdom will always be built upon love,kindness,sincerity and all other things which are the will of god. ”.

“Bless you,oh majesty”, said Enviva, “God spoke to me once and told me that the power of my voice came from the ears of those who listened to it and now I have the attention of the most powerful ear in the land”.

And so, out of that happy ending came an even more wonderful beginning, from that day onward a great and positive change came over the land of Rhythmia. Although Enviva was still only a child she was given four advisors who were experts in matters of state and finance and with their help became a successful and wise royal minister and Enviva was even given a great mansion of her own, within the city of Heavenna, which she shared with her family and that of her older cousin Mimenta and,when she wasn’t tied up with affairs of state, she was singing at the royal concert hall of Heavenna that had been constructed by the king to honor her, built out of the ruins
of the accursed idol of wrath.